for decades that music was dormant but this week the u.s. army band performed the symphony in washington giving the composer his first chance to hear the work he created seven decades ago. >> my name is harold van heuvelen and my age is 93. and i'm a veteran. of world war ii. in 1945, i was stationed in new orleans, louisiana. at the new orleans army air base and i was an instructor and the peace in europe had already been written in the april of that year. so they said we can do anything we want to. i decided to write a symphony. during those 70 years when it sat on the shelf i'd look at it every once in a while and think why isn't this being played? >> my brother and i came upon the bound copy of the symphony. i talked to the senator from michigan where my dad lives, senator levin wrote a letter to the defense department and the next thing we knew we had a letter back from the army secretary saying we would like to perform this symphony. ♪ >> i was kind of worried what i would see and i was so grateful when i opened the score and saw tha